Posts tagged ‘Wreck-It Ralph’

Tonight is possibly my sister’s favorite night of the year: Oscar Night! She has seen 36 of the nominated movies, where as I have seen less than 10…I’m guessing this may affect the amount I picked correctly on my ballot tonight. As the night goes on, I”ll be sharing my fairly random picks, commentary on the glitzy fashion, and judgements on the quality of acceptance speeches (you know you judge these, too!). I’m hoping the night will live up to the hype. Apparently there are a lot of performances packed into the presentation, and of course, Seth MacFarlane is hosting. It should be an interesting night ; )

7:07: I can’t decide who is best dressed! I really like Jessica Chastain’s dress. Kerry Washington’s was pretty, but it doesn’t seem as fancy to me as the others for some reason. I don’t love the gray of Amy Adams’ dress, but the simple styling (effortless hair, dangling diamond earrings, etc.) was perfect. Stacy Keibler just walked up in this black/gray/white sequin dress that fit beautifully!

7:14: I TOTALLY guessed the red slippers awhile ago when they said it had a bunch of pieces to it. That was kind of a letdown. I was hoping they would actually surprise me. No Oscar mysteries next year ABC.

7:18: Does anyone else think Kristin Chenoweth is a horrible host? I feel like she’s made a lot of celebrities feel awkward and just kept talking about how short she was….no one cares.

7:22: I also think Nicole Kidman looked fabulous. She even coordinated with the Oscar billboards behind her. I think I may be in love with form-fitting sequins.

7:24: ABC is going crazy trying to fill in these last 5 minutes. I feel like they are literally pulling celebrities out of their chairs in desperate need to talk to someone.

7:30: Ooooooooo PRETTY! So many lights on the stage!

7:31: I’m kind of sad they didn’t do a little montage or comedy intro like they usually do, but they did just announce that the theme is music in film.

7:32: So far I am not impressed with the jokes. Please get better ASAP.

7:56: I am not a fan of Melissa McCarthy’s dress. The fabric doesn’t look very expensive.

7:57: My pick was Paperman. It was the only one I saw out of the bunch.

7:58: Paperman wins Best Animated Short! 2 for 2!

7:59: I only saw Brave and Wreck It Ralph out of the Animated Movies. I heard others were better, so I picked Paranorman.

8:00: Brave wins Best Animated Film! My first loss. I should have stuck with Pixar.

8:01: Here is a montage of a bunch of movies I have not seen…Oh! It’s Little Q! I want this girl in my 4th grade class!

8:05: I like the lighted silhouettes of The Avengers. Where is this spiel going?

8:07: My pick for cinematography was Anna Karenina (haven’t seen). Life of Pi wins for Best Cinematography! Now I am down to only a 50% average. Laaaaame.

8:08: Is anyone else distracted by this man’s copious amounts of white hair?

8:09: I picked The Hobbit for visual effects. I’ve actually seen that one!

8:10: Life of Pi wins Best Visual Effects! I did hear that movie was incredibly pretty. Now I am down to 2 out of 5 correct picks.

8:11: OMG. That was awkward. Not only do they play music to get you to shut up, but they play threatening music to get you off the stage. I like Nicole Kidman’s consoling nod to the group that was played off.

8:17: Anna Karenina is my pick for Costume Design. The Hobbit is my pick for Make-Up and Hairstyling. Fingers crossed!

8:18: Anna Karenina wins Best Costume Design! Back to 50% with 3 out of 6. This lady also did Pride and Prejudice? Love that movie and it’s costumes!

8:19: Listening to The Hobbit music play while they announce the film nominees makes me want to go buy the soundtrack!

8:20: Les Miserables wins Best Make-Up and Hairstyling! Sigh. Back below 50%, with 3 out of 7.

8:21: The sleeves make Halle Berry’s dress look too matronly. If she turned that dress into a halter, she’d look much younger.

8:22: I bet my dad is loving this James Bond montage. I will be looking out for the Goldeneye scenes where I have killed people off in the N64 video game ; )

8:27: I really thought they were going to do a compilation of songs there. Are they going to continue the James Bond stuff throughout the night instead?

8:31: That Scandal preview was awesome! It had a very James Bond vibe. I love that show. I’ll try to embed the commercial soon.

8:33: Buzkashi Boys is my pick for live action short. I saw the kids featured on the news a few days ago, and how they got to come to Hollywood for the Oscars. Curfew wins Best Live Action Short! Oh well. At least I had heard of one of these.

8:35: I very randomly picked Redemption for Documentary Short. Inocente wins Best Documentary Short! I am now down to 3 out of 9 -_-

8:40: More movies I have not seen- Argo, Lincoln, and Zero Dark Thirty. This must be the dark and intense group of movies.

8:42: “I feel like we might have to call him Benjamin Affleck.” That got a chuckle out of me. Why are we talking about the films now? I feel like this belonged at the beginning.

8:43: I picked The Gatekeepers for Documentary. I don’t even know what it is about….

8:44: Searching for Sugar Man wins Best Documentary! I don’t know what this is about either.

8:49: I like the color of Jennifer Garner’s dress, but really want to cut off that back poof.

8:50: Amour seems the obvious choice for Foreign Film (my pick), but I’d be happy with Kon Tiki! My kids just learned about the history of this journey in class last week : )

8:51: Amour wins Best Foreign Film! 4 out of 11. Maybe I can crawl my way back to a better percentage of correct picks?

8:52: Wait? The orchestra isn’t really there?!?!? #mindblown

8:53: Ooooo, movie musical review of the past decade. Bring it on Travolta.

8:54: Oh man. Chicago. This brings back a lot of memories from high school. I think the whole drama department was obsessed with this movie. I wish they were performing Cell Block Tango right now instead of All That Jazz.

8:56: I don’t think Catherine Zeta Jones was singing live…thoughts?

8:58: Jennifer Hudson, on the other hand, I believe IS singing live. I think I’m one of the few people that really dislikes this song. Sorry to the people who love it- I just find it loud and annoying.

9:00: Did anyone else catch that standing ovation with the Asian lady clapping her purse? Haha!

9:01: Fact: Hugh Jackman becomes more attractive when he sings.

9:02: I still have no idea what Les Miserables is about. These people sound great, though. Just kidding- Russell Crowe just started singing.

9:03: Helena Bonham Carter is in this movie?????

9:04: I like how when they all sing, you can hear Crowe (the worst singer) over everyone else.

9:05: Every time I type Les Miserables, I have to think to myself “Miz-errr-ahhh-bless” to spell it correctly.

9:09: Only Zoe Saldana could wear a belt with an Oscar’s dress and pull it off.

9:10: Sadly no one cares so much about the scientific awards…

9:11: Wow, I’m actually really impressed with the Ted special effects on stage right now.

9:12: I picked Les Miserables for Sound Mixing….Les Miserables wins for Sound Mixing! This was well-placed after that big performance. 5 out of 12! Side Note: What is the difference between Sound Mixing and Sound Editing???

9:14: I picked Skyfall for Sound Editing. Go James Bond!

9:16: There’s a TIE! I like how Mark Wahlberg clarifies that he’s not joking. Zero Dark Thirty AND Skyfall win Best Sound Editing! I’m totally counting this as a win. 6 out of 13! I need the next one to get back up to 50% accuracy!

9:17: I guess to be a sound editor you need to be a dude with long, blonde hair. At least this guy doesn’t have lipstick on his upper lip.

9:18: Haha, I like The Sound of Music joke. Now I feel like watching that movie again.

9:19: Christopher Plummer is getting OLD. I don’t think i could match him with his character from The Sound of Music.

9:20: I picked Anne Hathaway for Supporting Actress (she had to sacrifice her hair people!). OH. I forgot Sally Field was in Lincoln. I couldn’t remember what she was nominated for. I really should have seen more of these.

9:22: I love Helen Hunt’s necklace! It’s so sparkly!

9:23: Anne Hathaway wins Best Supporting Actress! I love you Anne Hathaway, but I do kind of hate your dress….

9:29: Yawn. No one cares about The Academy’s new museum…well at least not tonight.

9:30: The college students are dressed really nicely- I love some of those black dresses!

9:32: Sandra Bullock- why is your hair so boring??? Just straightening it is not enough for the most elegant night in Hollywood!

9:33: I picked Zero Dark Thirty for editing, but Argo wins Best Film Editing!

9:35: Jennifer Lawrence’s dress looks great on stage. I like how it poofs out at the bottom. It’s a nice contrast from the many straight dresses.

9:36: Adele mentioned on the red carpet that this dress weighs about 13 kilograms (28 pounds!!!) and it was hard for her to take deep breaths when she was performing. She looks stunning, though.

9:40: Okay, I think we have nine categories left and less than an hour of planned run time…they must be going over. The ones left are the two writing, two music, production design, director, lead actor/actress, and picture.

9:43: Yeah, I think Nicole Kidman has my favorite dress of the evening.

9:44: This is the only grouping that has a movie I’ve seen before: Silver Linings Playbook. Wow, they just gave away the ending of it in the montage.

9:47: What was with the creepy watery floor and hand grabbing scene in the Amour montage?

9:49: I picked The Hobbit for production design. This is it’s last chance to win something!

9:50: Lincoln wins Best Production Design! Damn. Well Peter Jackson, you didn’t really get credit until your third LOTR movie, so maybe that will hold true for The Hobbit. Did that guy just say he’s married to Adele??? Okay, well your wife is so cool I will allow you to win over The Hobbit.

9:51: Salma Hayek looks like she is choking in that collar.

9:57: Let’s knock out some of these awards. We are running out of time, and I’m sure Jennifer Lawrence is still starving (she said this on the red carpet earlier). I wish I could send her snacks.

Summer blockbuster season is over, but don’t let that get you down. I went through all the upcoming movies through the rest of 2012 to pick out 20 that I think are worth checking out (they’re listed in order of release date). These movies show off an eclectic taste, so I’m sure there are at least a few that will peak your interest ; ) I embedded all the trailers for you to judge the movies for yourself. I’ll do the first ten on my list today, and the next ten tomorrow. Enjoy!

August 3rd

Celeste and Jesse Forever: What’s not to like about Andy Samberg and Rashida Jones? This movie is about a couple who is in the process of getting divorced, but tries to maintain a close friendship anyway. They inevitably find themselves jealous and unsure about their decision to get divorced as they meet new people. I think this looks funny and relatable, and as I already mentioned, I love the leads.

August 15th

The Odd Life of Timothy Green: This is a slightly odd premise for a family-friendly film- a couple who can’t conceive a child writes down everything they would want their child to be, buries these notes in a box, and a child magically appears in place of the box. I’m worried there will be a sad ending about the child having to leave the couple at the end of the movie, but who knows? Jennifer Garner seems very endearing as the mom, so I might give it a shot despite the obvious warning signs of a tearjerker ending.

September 14th

Finding Nemo 3D: This movie was absolutely majestic in 2D, so I can’t imagine how good it will be in 3D. This is definitely one I will promote to my class since they were newborns when it first came out. Even if your kids have seen it on DVD, I would suggest letting them experience it in theaters come September. But if you’re enough of a fan, you won’t need me to convince you ; )

The Perks of Being a Wallflower: I haven’t read the book this movie is based on, but most speak very highly of it. A lonely high school boy makes friends with two misfit seniors while trying to deal with his dark past. It looks like a pretty quirky coming of age story, and I’m excited to see Emma Watson play someone outside of Hermione (plus if you see in the beginning of the trailer, Nina Dobrev is in the movie, too!).

September 28th

Looper: I heard Joseph Gordon-Levitt was in this, but when I watched the trailer I thought- oh, I guess I heard wrong. Then I realized he plays the main guy you see in nearly every shot of the trailer. He just has had some great make-up done to make him look like a young Bruce Willis. Make-up artists, I salute you. Looper is about a group of assassins that travel back in time to take out their victims. When a looper realizes he himself is being hunted, he has to figure out a way to survive as his present and future self collide in the same time period. Sounds exciting-bordering on confusing-but any movie with Joseph Gordon-Levitt is worth looking into.

Hotel Transylvania: There are several animated movies on this list I’m excited about- this one comes out first. An overprotective vampire father builds a hotel for monsters to keep his daughter safe from people. His plan works well until his daughter gets rebellious just as a teenage boy stumbles upon the hotel. As expected, chaos ensues. I laughed a lot during the trailer- I think the characters are hilarious. Hopefully the whole movie is just as good.

Won’t Back Down: This is my *favorite* of this whole list- and yes, I may be a bit biased because I’m a teacher. Two mothers (one is a teacher) from a low-income neighborhood work together to transform their school into a place where all students can succeed. I love that this is about the parents taking action, and not just teachers. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis play the moms, so you know this is going to be awesome.

October 5th

Pitch Perfect: Ok, yes. This looks like it will have the cinematic value of say The House Bunny or Dodgeball, but hey. It could be funny, too. It’s about a college girl who gets roped into joining an all-girl acapella group. She helps them update their boring set lists, and in exchange I’m sure they help her become a “better person” or whatever. I think the highlight will be Rebel Wilson (from Bridesmaids), who has every snappy one-liner in this trailer.

October 26

Cloud Atlas: This movie is so epic it needs a five minute long trailer. I can’t begin to explain what it is about, but I’m intrigued overall by the theme of past and future selves intertwining with the same people and events. There’s a huge list of stars in the film, most notably Halle Berry and Tom Hanks, and it already has a 2 hour and 44 minute run time. I hope it lives up to the hype.

November 2nd

Wreck-It Ralph: Gamers are going to love this movie! A video game villain decides he wants to be the good guy for a change, and starts jumping into other games to try out his new lifestyle. A lot of memorable video game characters will make appearances throughout the film, as you can already see in the support group scene in the trailer. I’m sure the numerous promos during the Olympics coverage have already got you pumped for this one.